Which Hardwood and Supplier?

[TonyW]

As a newbie I have to confess that I know very little about hardwood its characteristics e.g. workability, stability, etc. etc. So far my only experience has been with softwood (B&Q style - cupped and bowed ).

The following are probably very dumb questions but:

I would like to try my hand at dovetail joints (Rob Cosman style) and would appreciate any advice/suggestions on a suitable (inexpensive) hardwood to practice with. I am assuming that I am unlikely to get good results using softwood.

Can anyone recommend a good supplier of hardwoods in the North West of England or North Wales? Where possible I do like to see what I am buying and due to my job I travel around these areas.

Tony

 

[Colin C]

Hi Tony

If you are going to practice on it, then I would say good and get some good softwood to practice with.

If you can get a good joint in softwood, then hardwoods will be easier ( in some ways any way )

I hope this helps

Regards Colin

 

[Scrit]

Good hardwood suppliers might include:

Ambrose McGrath Hardwoods Ltd
6, Fulton Street
Liverpool
Merseyside
L5 9TG

Tel: 0151 298 9898

Down near the docks onm the north side. For a timber to try why not use what the joinery trade are using instead of mahogany these days, idigbo? It's available and not killer priced

Scrit

 

[johnnyb]

idigbo scrit? thats a new one on me. i will google that one.,...

 

[Scrit]

Idigbo - as touched on in this post quite recently. You could also try Brazilian Cedar or ask mcGraths what they have by way of a fine-grained hardwood which isn't splintery, but avoid the stuff with interlocked grain, like sapele - looks nice but can be murder to plane. Mahogany itself is fairly "soft" (i.e. cuts easily with a sharp chisel) against, say, beech and you'll find idigbo, meranti, etc have similar working characteristics

Scrit

 

[ByronBlack]

I'm currently using Maranti, and it's very nice/easy to work with and would definitly think that it would be an ideal practice wood as it's relatively cheap and of a decent quality.

 

[TonyW]

Looks like I will be making a trip to Liverpool in the near future looking at Idigbo and Red Meranti and also see if I can pick up some good quality softwood.

Thanks to all for your suggestions.

 

[glynster]

Ebay is a good place to pick up small-ish quantities of hardwood delivered to your door - there's a category for timber http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Wood-Timber-/112570/i.html - in some cases it costs a little more (in others you can get absolute bargains especially for unwanted pallet loads of rough sawn) but for small quantities and convenience it's ideal to try out a few different types of wood. At the end of the day, wood becomes furniture and furniture is a thing of taste and fashion and certain woods and "colours" of timber come in and out of fashion whether we like it or not - early 90's everything was Beech, eighties it was red woods and faux-mahoganies like Meranti and right now everybody is into oak and more recently it looks like Ash and walnut are coming "in". So, personally, I practice in the wood I will actually use to build the things I want in my own home. Softwood, especially the tripe you'll get from Wickes and B&Q, IMHO, is construction timber and doesn't behave like hardwood at all - it is less precise to work and so is harder to get sharp and neat results. For me, the 100 hours I will spend making something is far more valuable than the £100 worth of prime oak I will be making it from - and again, just my opinion, plywood should remain in the garage for jigs and storage and has no place in the home - if I wanted ply and MDF furniture I would buy it from Argos. The only exception is veneered ply for drawer bottoms since it is most stable.

 

[Graham Orm]

Mahogany window boards will be the easiest to get hold of. Any decent builders merchant will have them in stock. They may also have thinner stock too. Where are you exactly?

 

[Graham Orm]

Here are some lovely softwood dovetails. post888534.html#p888534

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi all,

This thread was started SEVEN years ago.

Neil

 

[Graham Orm]

I knew that. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Giff]

Tony if you only want small amounts to try out Atlantic Timber in Altrincham have Oak and I think Sapelle….but if you are near Nantwich Richard Potter http://www.fortimber.demon.co.uk/index.htm has "everything" ! They will cut and machine as well. Geoff

 

[custard]

Tony, you can make lovely dovetails with softwood. Being softer (usually, although some softwoods, like yew, are really pretty hard) means the wood can be compressed a little which makes for tighter looking, gap free joints. However, the problem is you'll need sharper tools to get clean edges when you cut softwood dovetails. A number of craftsmen keep a few chisels at really extreme bevel angles (like honed at 20 degrees) just for dovetailing in soft woods, and softer hardwoods such as poplar.

If you are going to buy hardwoods for dovetailing then make things easy on yourself. Avoid really hard hardwoods, especially for the pin board. Even oak will be a challenge for a beginner, try something a bit more forgiving like cherry, mahogany or sycamore. And look for very straight grained, preferably quarter sawn timber because it'll have a better chance of staying flat and stable. Unless the components are really flat and square it's that much harder to produce a good quality dovetail.

It's great that you're giving hand dovetailing a go, it really isn't that difficult!

Good luck.

 

[mrpercysnodgrass]

Hi Tony, as others have said some softwoods are quite hard and some hardwoods quite soft ( balsar wood is a hardwood) so you are best to pick woods that have been recommended. One thing that is a good idea to do when practicing dovetails is to use contrasting colours of timber, a light one for the pins and a dark one for the tails.

 

[rafezetter]

That ebay link for woods, there's some great bits on there.